


==> Kids: Ask About Parents

by marzipanpie



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Pre-Sburb, kinda sad but not really?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 10:46:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6750880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marzipanpie/pseuds/marzipanpie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Beta Kids wonder what happened to the parents they don't have, and ask the ones they do, with mixed results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	==> Kids: Ask About Parents

**Author's Note:**

> I dunno man, I remember when I first started reading Homestuck way back when I was really curious about what happened to John's mum, Rose's dad, and Dave and Jade's actual parents. I remember I used to actually think John and Rose were related and their mum and dad were like divorced or something. So, this is basically just... a fic that's really been stewing for a good few years, I guess.

_1_

 

John Egbert is seven years old when he realises he doesn't have a mother.

 

Or, not that he _realises_ it, because he's always known his dad was his only caretaker. But he realises that the fact he doesn't have a mother isn't _normal_.

 

All the other kids in school always talk about their dad _and_ mom. Even the kids who say their parents are 'divorced' (whatever that is) talk about their dad _and_ mom. Just seperately. The only exception is a girl called Mary, who doesn't have a mom, like John, but has _two_ dads.

 

John only has the one.

 

So, one day after school, he goes into the kitchen, where his dad (his one dad with no mom) is making dinner. His one dad with no mom smiles at him as John jumps up onto one of the chairs at the table. John waits until his dad has finished peering at the carrots he's boiling, before he asks:

 

“Do I have a mom?”

 

John's dad (his one dad with no mom and no idea why his son is suddenly asking this question) stops moving, and looks over to his son. His son who is sitting at a table far too big for just him looking nothing but curious.

 

“She… had to go away,” John's dad replies. John makes a face; scrunches up his nose and tilts his head to the side.

 

“To where? Why?” John asks.

 

“She just couldn't stay with us, son,” John's dad replies. He walks over to his son (his son who is getting so big and growing so fast and asking questions he wouldn't ever know the real answer to) and ruffles his hair softly. “She had important things to do.”

 

At school, John makes up stories about his mother. She's a magician who travels the world stunning people with her magical skill. Or she's a scientist working in a different country to find the cure to the common cold. Or she's a secret agent, who completes top secret missions and has to stay away from her family for their own safety.

 

Eventually, though, he stops talking about his mom all together, and avoids questions about his family when he brings in left over cake after his dad made too much.

 

_2_

 

Rose Lalonde is ten years old when she decides she should know what happened to her father.

 

She sits in the living room one morning, with a book she is far too young to be reading open on her knees, and waits for her mom to waltz past.

 

When she does, Rose's mom smiles broadly and falls onto the sofa next to her daughter, placing the full Martini glass she's holding on the table, next to a small wizard statue. Its still before noon, so Rose thinks this is probably only her mom's second drink.

 

“What're you reading, Rose?” her mom asks, looking down at the book. Rose closes the book, and looks up at her mom.

 

“What happened to dad?” Rose asks.

 

Her mom's expression falters, even though she tries to hide it from her daughter. Her lips twitch towards a frown and her eyebrows pull together.

 

“Why would you ask that?” she says. Rose shrugs.

 

“I've been wondering for a while. Don't children usually have both a mom and a dad?” Rose says.

 

There's a long pause. Rose's mom looks down at her daughter (her daughter, who is so smart and reads long heavy books with tiny text and sometimes rearranges the cleaning products into a much more convenient, but unfamiliar, order).

 

“You've never really had one,” Rose's mom finally replies. She goes to stroke her daughter's hair, but Rose's head moves slightly so she can look up better, so she lets her hand fall awkwardly into her lap.

 

“Never really had one?” Rose asks. Her mom blinks.

 

“He didn't… want to stay,” she finally replies, “And I thought I could raise you better without him.”

 

She waits, wondering if Rose will ask more questions, but she doesn't. She just opens her book, back to the exact same page she'd been at before, and starts reading again.

 

This time, Rose's mom _does_ stroke her hair, just once, letting her hand fall to the top of her head and slide down. Her mom then stands up, picks up her drink, and downs it with one elegant gesture.

 

She gets drunk much more quickly that day. Rose looks at books on internet about the psychology of families.

 

_3_

 

Dave Strider is twelve when he gets fed up of his friends always complaining about their parents, and realises he never found out why he doesn't have any.

 

He sits in his room in front of his computer as Rose types and types over Pesterchum about how quickly her mom got drunk today. He taps his fingers along the desk, and then quickly tells her he'll be back in a couple minutes.

 

He pushes away from the desk and wanders into the living room. His bro is sat in front of the TV, flicking through channels, boredly.

 

Dave readjusts his shades, leans against the wall, and says, “Hey, Bro?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“What happened to our parents?”

 

There's a pause, and his bro stops flicking through channels. It lands on some crappy soap opera, with a girl screeching about how she'd though a boy had loved her or something.

 

Dave's bro looks lazily over his shoulder at Dave (at his brother, who's been getting better at Strifes recently, but _still loses every goddamn time_ , who's been shutting himself away in his room more and more so he can talk to his friends, who falls for the puppet in the blender _every time_ ) and shrugs.

 

“Dunno,” Dave's bro replies.

 

Dave's shoulders sag slightly, before he rights them and straightens his spine, “You. Don't know.”

 

“Nope.” His bro looks back to the TV and starts flicking through channels again.

 

Dave goes back into his room and tells Rose he's back. She asks where he went and he says he had gone to get something to eat, but the fridge was just full of shitty swords _again_. Rose asks him if he'd ever considered trying to eat the swords, and she doesn't talk about her mother for the rest of the day.

 

_4_

 

Jade Harley never got to ask about her parents. A stuffed grandpa can't exactly provide many answers. And a dog, however extraordinary, is still limited to barks and whines.

 

That doesn't stop her from trying though.

 

When she's thirteen, she sees John while she's sleeping. He's messing around in some kind of lab, pushing buttons and making faces at green goo. She has no idea what it means, but when she wakes up, she feels like she should know about her parents.

 

She wanders around her island all day, humming as she tends to her garden and walking over the grass to find Bec. After she's fed Bec, she kneels in front of him and scratches his ears, grinning widely.

 

“You wouldn't happen to know what happened to my parents, would you, boy?” she asks, giving him a particularly enthusiastic scratch.

 

Bec tilts his head at her, almost as if he could understand her. She then feels as if the world around her is falling apart and being tied together all at the same time, and it takes her a moment, as it always does, to realise that Bec has zapped them somewhere else.

 

She looks up and sees the stuffed body of her dead grandpa. She huffs, amused, and smiles, somewhat grimly.

 

“I said parents, Bec, not grandparents.” But she gives the dog a satisfied pat, and stands to leave.

 

She feels light-headed, and the world goes dim around the edges of her vision, and she collapses, falling asleep again.

 

_5_

 

John Egbert is thirteen when he finds the answer to a question he's forgotten he'd even asked.

 

He's dressed in a green lab coat which fits perfectly, and is in a lab. A troll is pestering him but he's too intent on pressing buttons and twiddling dials and grinning at the four-eyed cat sitting next to him.

 

He creates eight babies from green goo.

 

The troll tells him that the babies are _them_. Him and Rose and Dave and Jade. And their nanna and their grandpa and their mom and their bro. Their parents.

 

He crouches down in front of the baby girl with black hair and oval glasses. He lifts his hand and extends a finger. The baby reaches for it and wraps her tiny fist around it, babbling happily.

 

“Hi nanna,” John says, “Guess you're really my mom, huh?”

 

Baby nanna sneezes and lets go of his finger, startled. John smiles and laughs, before answering the troll that begins pestering him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, there we go. I kinda wish we'd gotten more insight on what the kids thought about the parents-they-didn't-have, but oh well. Hope you enjoyed this tinyass-speculation-fic


End file.
